Lauderhill woman accused of beating son, saying 'I have to kill you'

LAUDERHILL — John Burroughs says he was outdoors installing a gate when he saw a 17-year-old boy approaching him and screaming, "Hey mister! Could you help? My momma is trying to kill me!"

Burroughs said he dialed 911 after seeing the boy's mother armed with a butcher knife. "She told me herself to call 911," Burroughs said. "I guess I was there at the right time."

The boy's mother, Sheronda Hall Roselva, 50, was arrested Sunday on one count of aggravated child abuse, according to a Lauderhill police report. In court Monday, Roselva was ordered held on $50,000 bond.

Roselva spontaneously gave her reason for the attack, police said. "I wanted to kill my son because I cannot take care of him, and I don't want him to suffer," she said, according to police.

Police responded to the 2000 block of Northwest 59th Way just before noon Sunday. They interviewed the teenager, who had a small cut and bruises on the back of his head, near his left ear, police said.

The teenager said he was asleep in his bedroom about 11:30 a.m., when his mother came in and attacked him with a bat, police said. He estimated that she struck him with the bat about 30 times, according to a police report. She then left the boy's bedroom and came back with a knife, police said. She told her son, "I have to kill you," police said.

The boy deflected his mother's attack by grabbing her arm and ran outside the house, police said.

Burroughs, 68, of Fort Lauderdale, said he had been performing maintenance work in the neighborhood when he witnessed the incident. "I see she was coming with a butcher knife (in one hand) and some kind of object in her other hand," Burroughs said.